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4 day old newborn (lots of questions)

Our new little guy was born on 2/7 at 37 weeks by c-section. With my first son, he had a hard time latching and so I pumped exclusively for 3 months and then ended up nursing until he was 17 months old. I was really hoping to avoid having to pump with this baby, but so far it is not looking good.

He has latched on and started sucking some, but most of the time he is too sleepy and either doesnt open up wide enough or just wont latch on at all. So I have been pumping again.

So first question I have is: any advice on this? The lactation consultant at the hospital said that a lot of babies born early have a problem with this. So right now I am syringe feeding him (I hate the SNS)...I have been trying to avoid bottles and can right now with the small amount he is getting but may have to use them soon.

Also, I cant remember since my last son is now 4 years old....how much milk should I be giving to him each feeding? Right now I am pumping anywhere from 20-30 ml each time (mostly 30ml). He will take the 30 ml sometimes but he is practically asleep for most of it and I have to keep waking him to drink it. Should I be doing that? Also, what should I increase it to over the next few weeks? I am trying to feed him anywhere from every 2 to every 3 hours (mostly 3 right now). B/c each time I try to get him to latch, do some skin to skin, and then pump and then feed....it takes forever.

He is a very sleepy baby ( I am sure it is related to the pain meds I am on from the c-section, although I try to be very judicious with using it- the pain is so much worse this time than last though, so I have used it maybe once or twice a day)- I have asked all the doctors and nurses about taking the Percocet and they either say it wont affect the baby that much or like my ob-gyn said that it is better for you to be out of pain and able to take better care of the baby and produce more milk while taking the pills for a short period of time. I am worried though that this may cause ill effects other than just sleepiness for him. Anyone know?

Re: 4 day old newborn (lots of questions

Congrats on your baby! Mine children are also 4 years apart and I thought all my experience and trouble with my daughter would mean that it would be so different with my son. But like you I found myself pumping again. However, with my daughter it was for 3 months and my son only three weeks. You have experience on your side this time, but unfortunately you have a preemie. Give him time and keep trying. Keep him in his diaper on your bare chest as much as possible. Keep him in the moby wrap and let him sleep there. Encourage a latch and hold off on using the bottle as much as you can. I know it's rough. I refused to give my son a bottle for fear of confusion for 2 weeks. I pumped while my husband fed him. And I just kept trying.

My daughter was 7 weeks early and it took her that long to latch. How did you get your first to latch eventually?

Re: 4 day old newborn (lots of questions

I am sorry I cannot give you measurements for how much to be feeding baby, can you call the hospital LC and ask her? How much are you able to pump? It might not be all that much at this point and that would be fairly normal, it can take up to 5-6 days for milk to become abundant esp. after a c-section. I would assume to at least give baby all you are able to pump, and look at output to gage if it is enough as you would with an at-the-breast-fed baby.

My oldest was born at 37 weeks also via c-section. He was able to latch but I had terrible nipple trauma and getting baby latched was a terrible struggle. In the first two weeks, I saw two IBCLCs, adn under thier guidance, I pumped, and used a nipple sheild, but most importantly, worked on latch! and with that help was able to nurse just fine, after a rough first few weeks.

Get help if you can. Your local LLL and/or a local private practice IBCLC, something, because you want to keep working on latching. I don't care how early they are, how old they are or how they were born, very few babies cannot latch, it is what they are born to do. You just have to figure out what is going to work with this baby.

Avoid engorgement, as much as you can, engorged breasts are much harder fior a baby to latch onto. If you get engorged, try reverse pressure softening.

Try laid back positioning. This type of positioning can really, really help with latch. And since this position helps faciliate baby to 'self latch,' getting baby to 'gape' and all that becomes far less important. Of course, you can help baby with latch as much as needed. If the typical laid back position has baby kicking or putting pressure on your incision, simply adjust baby's lie. For laid back positioning all you need is mom to be in a reclined, tilted back position (as much or as little as she likes) and for baby to be on their own front, usually on top of mom. But baby can be in any position on mom. Laid back positions: http://www.llli.org/docs/00000000000...astfeeding.pdf and http://www.biologicalnurturing.com/

Oh and I hope you have lots of supportive family, friends, etc, there to help, by making meals, taking care of the house, taking care of your other child. The newborn period is hard no matter how many other kids you have, and you have a particularly difficult situation. Often with number 2, 3, etc, moms figure they can do it all and don't ask for as much help as they did with number 1. No no no, get help!

Last edited by @llli*lllmeg; February 10th, 2012 at 11:11 PM.
Reason: forgot something

Re: 4 day old newborn (lots of questions

Thanks for the advice ladies!

With my first son, I just kept trying and trying to get him to latch and one day when I was about at the point of giving up...he latched right on and nursed like a champion from then on. I was so thrilled.

It looks like as of this morning, my milk has come in as I pumped a lot. I dont know if I should feed him all of that or not though. I asked the LC at the hospital before I left but the answers I got were kind of vague. Actually, I dont think he is peeing as much as he should. He had 3 pees yesterday and that was his 4th day of life. I go to the pediatrician on Tuesday so I will ask them and try to find out in the meantime.

I will have to look up the moby wrap as I am not familiar with it.

I will try the laid back postitioning. I dont know if it makes a difference or not, but I have very large breasts and it has seemed harder with both babies for this reason.

Re: 4 day old newborn (lots of questions

Large breasts can make laid back more difficult, but not always. Remember you do not need to be really laid back, even slightly reclined can help, and baby is on their own front but that can be on pillows or folded blankets etc. NEXT to mom, having baby next to mom instead of right on top seems to help often when mom is large breasted.

Re: 4 day old newborn (lots of questions

I will def give that a try!

Yes he is definitely pooping. He poops like 6-8 times per day. And they are mostly yellow/brown liquidy stools. I am getting worried about him not peeing though. He has only peed twice today. I will read that article though.

Re: 4 day old newborn (lots of questions

6-8 poops a day sounds like plenty. At this point you want to see a minimum of 3 poops a day at least the size of the circle made with your thumb and forefinger when you make the "OK" sign with your hand. If you have that, baby is very likely getting enough, counting poops is much more relaible than pees as a baby who is not getting enough breastmilk will sometimes pee but will not poop enough, while if a baby is pooping enough he is almost certainly getting enough. Maybe the pees are happening in the same diapers as the poops and getting hidden?

Re: 4 day old newborn (lots of questions

It may help to tuck a square of tissue paper in front of baby's genitalia. When he pees, the paper will be visibly wet. This can really help you count those tiny newborn pees, which can easily get sopped up by a disposable diaper or be masked by poop, as the PP mentioned.